Wii U's are getting harder to find

TL;DR It seems that even with the Switch out most people aren't trading in their Wii U's.

“Grab a Wii U while you can, because they won’t be around forever,” a Nintendo executive said in a 2016 interview, as the company geared up for the launch of Switch. The Wii U has vanished from retail stores and, now, used games salespeople across the country are saying that they’re not seeing many Wii U trade-ins. If you want a Wii U, you’d better get one soon.

And no, you can’t have mine, even though every time I turn it on, specks of dust stick to my fingers. It lives in a cluttered living room cabinet between my Switch dock and a thousand wires, a relatively prominent spot for an out-of-date console. It exists for Super Smash Bros. Until Nintendo gets a Switch version of Smash out the door, my Wii U, like others’, won’t see the inside of a used games store.

Wii U disappeared from retail shelves quickly when Switch came along to replace it last March. Nintendo discontinued its production in November, 2016. But as late as November 2017, you could buy a Wii U directly from Nintendo, either on its own online store or via eBay, for $175. These, too, are now depleted, although GameStop and Amazon have many in stock.

Besides Smash, another reason for low supply of Wii U is that it was Nintendo’s worst-selling console. Today, Nintendo announced that the Switch has already outsold it after less than a year on the market. Wii U also came with the unique (if somewhat polarizing) GamePad controller, and Nintendo never sold GamePads by themselves, meaning that if the controller breaks, the whole system is useless.

Ian Ferguson, who works at San Diego games store Luna Games, said he doesn’t see a lot of Wii Us come through his shop. “Wii U trade-ins are not common even after the launch of the Switch,” Ferguson said, and “even after the announcement of certain Wii U games being ported to the Switch.” Marcus Richardson, an employee at New York used games store 8 Bit And Up, said he had not ever seen a Wii U pass through his shop until last week. The console’s owner sold it to make rent after quitting his job, he said.

Kelsey Lewin, co-owner of Seattle game store Pink Gorilla, says says she’s seen significantly fewer Wii Us at the store after the Switch launched than Wiis after the Wii U launched. Because of that, the used consoles’ price hasn’t dropped as quickly as others’, she says: “Customers are surprised to see that the Wii U still sells for $150 [or more].”

There was a time when Wii Us were a little easier to find, right around the 2016 holiday season. Daniel Mastin of Videogamesnewyork said the trade-ins picked up after the launch of Switch: “The initial onset of the realizing the system is completely dead/abandoned by Nintendo is an unusual feeling. It took people time to accept that there would be no more games,” he said.

Videogamesnewyork bought back Wii Us at a faster pace than at any time in the console’s history at the beginning of 2018, he said. But what game sellers across the country agreed on was that when the “failed” consoles, the ones that sold in low numbers in the first place, do hit the market, they don’t stay there for long—hence the fact that they’re gone now.

Even though Wii U wasn’t a great seller, it’s still a Nintendo platform, and therefore it has a great library of games. So it shouldn’t be surprising that many owners haven’t sold theirs yet, and never will. Once Super Smash Bros. is released on Switch, we might see another rush of used Wii Us hit stores as the community trades up to the newest game. But as Wii U ages, it might experience a renaissance amongst those who didn’t even buy it in the first place.

It will probably remain on the more expensive side of retro consoles, but I do expect it to follow the general trend of other retro consoles and decrease in price over the next decade before rising after it's been discontinued for ~10-15 years. It'll drop as it's no longer current, its exclusives become available elsewhere and emulation improves/becomes more popular before rising again due to a shrinking supply, collectors becoming more interested as it becomes 'retro' and as people who owned one as kids reach their early adulthood and want to relive their childhood.

It will probably remain on the more expensive side of retro consoles, but I do expect it to follow the general trend of other retro consoles and decrease in price over the next decade before rising after it's been discontinued for ~10-15 years. It'll drop as it's no longer current, its exclusives become available elsewhere and emulation improves/becomes more popular before rising again due to a shrinking supply, collectors becoming more interested as it becomes 'retro' and as people who owned one as kids reach their early adulthood and want to relive their childhood.

The bad thing about emulating the Wii U is that it will be tough to emulate the games that required the second screen.

The bad thing about emulating the Wii U is that it will be tough to emulate the games that required the second screen.

I think that will only be an issue for Wii U emulation on future consoles; it shouldn't be much of an issue on PC. DS emulators have been able to emulate both screens for a long time now and, as far as I'm aware, Cemu does have the ability to emulate the second screen too. I only see it being a potential issue in certain games like Nintendo Land that intend to have each screen viewed only by certain players, but that could be solved by outputting each display to separate monitors (not sure if Cemu has that capability or not).

I think that will only be an issue for Wii U emulation on future consoles; it shouldn't be much of an issue on PC. DS emulators have been able to emulate both screens for a long time now and, as far as I'm aware, Cemu does have the ability to emulate the second screen too. I only see it being a potential issue in certain games like Nintendo Land that intend to have each screen viewed only by certain players, but that could be solved by outputting each display to separate monitors (not sure if Cemu has that capability or not).

So how does Cemu do it? Are both screens shown on one monitor/TV, or what? That would kind of suck, in my opinion. Does it support motion controls for the 2nd screen?

So how does Cemu do it? Are both screens shown on one monitor/TV, or what? That would kind of suck, in my opinion. Does it support motion controls for the 2nd screen?

Last I saw, Cemu had the ability to switch between the two outputs, but apparently it now supports simultaneous display in two different windows. So, it should be able to be used on different monitors now too.

It does simulate motion controls with the mouse and people have also used the DualShock 4's motion controls with it.

Last I saw, Cemu had the ability to switch between the two outputs, but apparently it now supports simultaneous display in two different windows. So, it should be able to be used on different monitors now too.

It does simulate motion controls with the mouse and people have also used the DualShock 4's motion controls with it.

Since none of the Xbox controllers have motion sensors, I guess mouse or DS is the only way to get that. Still, that method of emulation would really suck compared to just playing on an actual Wii U with a GamePad. If they could route that to an Android tablet, it would be cool, but I doubt if they could pull it off without lag.

I have 2 Wii U's, although one is at the ex's for the kids. That one I have been told has a bad left stick that can't be pressed in. I have thought about figuring if I could repair it or get a replacement gamepad.

The Wii U is an awesome homebrew console able to play all Nintendo games except switch one but it can play the best switch game Breath of the Wild. It is better than a modded Wii even IMO. You can play gamecube virtual console games on the gamepad...awesome!

I really want Sunshine, but I'll take an HD Remaster or a Virtual Console release. I'm good either way, just take my money Nintendo!

I have injected my copy of sunshine on to my Wii U with a little home brew magic. Are we not allowed to talk about that? Was even able to copy my GameCube save over for use with it so I didn’t have to start at the beginning since I’ve never beat it. Never beat Mario 64 either. Greatly prefers the structure of the galaxy games.

I have injected my copy of sunshine on to my Wii U with a little home brew magic. Are we not allowed to talk about that? Was even able to copy my GameCube save over for use with it so I didn’t have to start at the beginning since I’ve never beat it. Never beat Mario 64 either. Greatly prefers the structure of the galaxy games.

You can talk about it but you can't tell people how to do it or post any links